Welcome to the Cartesius system

Now you have got an account on the Cartesius system, it is time to see if it works properly. Here we tell you how to make an Internet connection with Cartesius and how to login to the system.

How to connect to the Cartesius system

How to make a connection is dependent of the kind of system you use. All methods use the Secure Shell Protocol (SSH), which identifies the Cartesius system with the following fingerprint:

7d:d8:0b:bd:c7:8d:d2:a7:72:5a:ae:14:c8:94:79:5d

Windows

There is more than one way to make a connection, we take PuTTY. If that program is not present on your system, you should install it now: go to the PuTTY download page and download putty.exe. Start PuTTY and fill in under 'Host Name (or IP address)'

Apple

When connecting to the system for the first time, SSH will ask you to verify the RSA key fingerprint. When asked to do so, enter your password. Now you will see a screen filled with some text: the Message of the Day.

You are now 'logged in' to the Cartesius system and you have a powerful Linux system at your disposal.

How to connect to the Cartesius system from abroad

At times you'll find yourself on the road and get this good idea, which you would like to test with a simulation on Cartesius. When you try to login, you'll find that access is often not possible, which can be quite frustrating. The problem is that Cartesius uses a white-list of ip-addresses and only from those locations you can access the system. To help you in these situations, we have setup a separate login server, that can be accessed from anywhere in the world: doornode.surfsara.nl. This server can be accessed with your usual login and password, after which you get a menu with systems that you can login to. Select 'Cartesius' and type your password a second time. You are now logged on to Cartesius. Please note that you cannot copy files or use X11 when using the door node.

If you are sure that you will access Cartesius more regularly from the same location, please send your ip-address to helpdesk@surfsara.nl and ask it to be white-listed. You can find the blocked ip-address when logging in to Cartesius using ssh -v [login]@cartesius.surfsara.nl.

How to disconnect

Simply type

logout

in the terminal window. Do not forget the 'Enter' after this command.

SURFsara app

Information about the status of the systems, your budget and more is available on the SURFsara app

More information

More information on the software available on the Cartesius system is here.

More information about using Linux systems in general can be found on the web, for example:

The UNIX Tutorial for Beginners contains a useful into Unix. NOTE: some examples (especially those about variables) are for another shell (csh) then the default shell on Cartesius (bash).